Blood Diamond (2006)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Edward Zwick

Writers (WGA):

Charles Leavitt (screenplay)
Charles Leavitt (story) ...

Release Date:

8 December 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Truth

Plot:

A fisherman, a smuggler, and a syndicate of businessmen match wits over the possession of a priceless diamond.

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Fisherman | Sierra Leone | Mercenary | Journalist

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 14 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Nov. 8

1:00 PM

USA

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Danny Archer
Djimon Hounsou	...	Solomon Vandy
Jennifer Connelly	...	Maddy Bowen
Kagiso Kuypers	...	Dia Vandy
Arnold Vosloo	...	Colonel Coetzee
Antony Coleman	...	Cordell Brown
Benu Mabhena	...	Jassie Vandy
Anointing Lukola	...	N'Yanda Vandy
David Harewood	...	Captain Poison
Basil Wallace	...	Benjamin Kapanay
Jimi Mistry	...	Nabil
Michael Sheen	...	Rupert Simmons
Marius Weyers	...	Rudolf Van De Kaap
Stephen Collins	...	Ambassador Walker
Ntare Mwine	...	M'Ed

Also Known As:

Blood Diamond (Germany)
Okavango (USA) (original script title)
Diamante de Sangue (Brazil) (Portugal) (original subtitled version) [pt]
Diamante de sangre (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Кровавый алмаз (Russia) [ru]
Blood Diamond (France) [fr]
Blood Diamond - Veritimantti (Finland) [fi]
Blood diamond - Diamanti di sangue (Italy) [it]
Kanli elmas (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Krwawy diament (Poland) [pl]
Le diamant de sang (Canada: French title) [fr]
Matomeno diamanti (Greece) [el]
Vereteemant (Estonia) [et]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language.

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Mende | Afrikaans

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R (certificate #43118) | Canada:14A | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Hong Kong:IIB | Brazil:16 | Malaysia:18PL | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/16 | Netherlands:16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Norway:15 | France:-12 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Germany:16 (bw) | Greece:K-13 | India:A | Sweden:15 | France:-16 (DVD rating) | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Cape Town, South Africa

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Solomon's son's name is Dia, which means "expensive" in Krio, the adapted language of Sierra Leone.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Maddy uses a Leica 35mm M6 rangefinder camera with a 35mm f1.4 lens. When she shoots, the soundtrack clearly uses a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) noise. The distinctive sound is because a mirror is tripped when an SLR takes a picture. The Leica M6 is a focal plane leaf shutter and makes a very different and quieter noise. She also takes a picture of Danny Arhcer at about 2 feet away, yet this lens and camera can not focus below 5 feet.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Solomon Vandy: Dia. Dia. Don't want to be late.
Dia Vandy: English boys don't go to school every day.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#26.9)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Solemn Prayer

A Hollywood movies tells an African story full of death and violence and presents it with impressive truth.

Because I lived in Sierra Leone, in fact in Kono, the diamond-mining area of the country, for three years, I had to see Blood Diamond as soon as it came out. It is an excellent movie. Although it was not filmed in Sierra Leone, it captures the reality of the country to a remarkable degree. There is a great deal of violence in this movie, but that violence is organic, realistic, fitting to what happened there. They even manage to convey the fact that the people are as astonished by this violence as we are; Sierra Leone used to be one of the safest countries in the world. The movie tells the facts about conflict diamonds quickly and accurately. DiCaprio's performance is impressive, certainly the best by him I've ever seen: he is totally believable as a white African. Jennifer Connelly's role is much smaller but she makes the most of it. Djiman Housou has enormous physical presence as the brave Mende fisherman. This movie just gets so many things right that the few places it departs from reality are entirely forgivable. I would heartily recommend this movie to everyone; it is the best Hollywood movie I've seen in years.